Chargers Plan to Take It Slow
The San Diego Chargers said Monday they have met the financial criteria required to activate the escape clause in their Qualcomm Stadium lease, but they are offering to postpone the 60-day triggering window in the interest of both sides.
Mark Fabiani, the team’s point man on new stadium issues, said the Chargers are willing to delay the process for three months -- essentially calling a timeout on a triggering period that began Dec. 1 -- to allow the specially appointed task force to finish its examination of the stadium situation. Upon approval of San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy and the city council, the triggering period would begin March 1.
“We want to give the process in San Diego every possible chance to succeed,” Fabiani said. “We think by our actions we are proving that we want to stay here. We don’t ask people to believe what we say; we ask people to look at what we do.”
Fabiani said the franchise is ready to open its books to city officials who want to review the trigger calculations and the supporting data.
Murphy sent a memo to city council members Monday applauding the decision by the Chargers and promising to put the issue on the council docket in early January.
“I believe this is a positive action by the Chargers,” Murphy said in a written statement.
According to two NFL sources, Charger President Dean Spanos was prepared to trigger the escape clause this week but reconsidered after meeting Friday in New York with NFL executives. The notification would activate a series of deadlines that could pave the way to a new stadium in San Diego, or a relocation of the team after the 2003 season, presumably to Los Angeles.
The timing of the trigger is especially sensitive because San Diego is preparing to play host to Super Bowl XXXVII on Jan. 26, and the 8-6 Chargers are entering a do-or-die stretch in their push to make the playoffs for the first time since 1995.
By a 5-4 vote last week, the San Diego City Council rejected a chance to approve private talks between Charger and city officials. The council recommended passing along the matter to the task force, which is scheduled to finish by mid-February at the earliest.
The Chargers’ relationship with the San Diego community has become increasingly strained in recent years, in part because of a controversial ticket guarantee.
The provision, agreed to in the afterglow of San Diego’s only Super Bowl appearance, promises the Chargers revenue equivalent to 60,000 general admission seats for every home game in the first 10 years of the lease.
By the end of last season, the city had spent $25.3 million on unsold tickets since 1997, almost offsetting the $28.9 million in rent collected during that span.
Team officials have informed Murphy the Chargers are willing to do away with the current lease and sign a two-year deal to stay where they are. That would clear the way to put a new stadium and development of the Qualcomm site on the November 2004 ballot.
The caveat to that deal, though, is the city cannot throw up any legal roadblocks if the Chargers want to leave after the 2004 season.
